SUNDAY GRAVY: Manti Te'o: Sociopath or Forrest Gump? You decide

Chip Malafronte, Register Sports Columnist

Published 12:00 am, Saturday, January 19, 2013

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

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This undated black-and-white handout photo provided by Paramount and the Library of Congress shows Tom Hanks staring as Forrest Gump. Bambi, Forrest Gump and Hannibal Lecter have at least one thing in common: Their cinematic adventures were chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the world's largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings. (AP Photo/Paramount, Library if Congess) less

This undated black-and-white handout photo provided by Paramount and the Library of Congress shows Tom Hanks staring as Forrest Gump. Bambi, Forrest Gump and Hannibal Lecter have at least one thing in common: ... more

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUNDAY GRAVY: Manti Te'o: Sociopath or Forrest Gump? You decide

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Between Lance Armstrong's doping confession and Manti Te'o's fake dead girlfriend, there's been no shortage of compelling news this week. What's truly heartbreaking is the narrative emanating from the world of sports gets a little more pathetic by the day.

?Te'o sat down with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on Friday night for an off-camera interview to give his side of the story. Te'o's version of the hard-to-believe events does little to clear inconsistencies and only serves to further damage his crumbling credibility.

Te'o is either a calculating, vicious sociopath or, as he'd like you to believe, Forrest Gump -- dim-witted, innocent and a virtuous victim of circumstance. The real answer, it seems, is a muddled combination of both.

Confusion still reigns as the surreal details continue to emerge. Te'o, who says he was duped by a false persona created by another person, admitted to overstating details of his relationship, lying to his father and perpetuating a myth to media.

Still, that he couldn't comprehend there was something fishy is astounding given his account of the relationship.

According to ESPN...

?Te'o says he attempted to meet his online "girlfriend" on several occasions, but she either didn't show or sent someone else in her stead.

?During multiple conversations via Skype and FaceTime, Te'o's "girlfriend" refused to make herself visible and he spoke to a black box.

?She once asked Te'o for his checking account number to send him money. He refused.

?Even after a person claiming to be the girlfriend called to tell him she was not dead on Dec. 6, Te'o said he didn't realize he was a victim of a grand hoax until Wednesday when the man behind it all contacted him to confess -- which conflicts with Notre Dame's claim that investigators determined the hoax before the BCS national championship game.

In this age of Internet spam and scam, it's difficult to believe a student at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world never caught on that something was amiss.

Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick, weeping during his press conference, deemed it tragic that "the single most trusting human being that I have ever met, will never be able to trust again." A harsh lesson? Certainly. But it's no tragedy to wake up to reality; it's a necessity in life. This is a twisted and cruel world. If you possess a hayseed mentality, people are going to take advantage.

?Has this scandal damaged Te'o's NFL draft stock? At this point, he should be more concerned with the Wonderlic test. But his Forrest Gump explanation is no more damaging to his NFL prospects than the way he was manhandled by Alabama.

?Never found the Oprah Winfrey Network on my cable package, but I did discover the Hallmark Channel shows reruns of the Brady Bunch.

?Ray Giroux took in his first Yale hockey game since graduating in 1998 on Saturday night. One of the program's all-time greats, the NHL lockout had a trickle-down effect on Giroux's 15-year pro career. But at 36, he says he's not ready to retire.

"Not at all," Giroux said. "I'm definitely in hockey limbo. With the lockout, I was one of those players who got pushed away. My intent was to play this year, and it still might be."

Giroux, the heart and soul of Yale's 1998 ECAC championship team, spent time with the Devils and Islanders. He spent the last seven seasons in Russia, a defenseman in the world's second-best league, the KHL. A former all-star, he played with Jaromir Jagr in the 2009 all-star game, held outdoors in Moscow's Red Square.

These days, he's enjoying time at his home near Scranton, Pa. -- he and his wife are expecting their third child. He's keeping in hockey shape by practicing with a couple of local Junior teams, and on Saturday skated in Yale's annual alumni game with brother Rich, also a former Bulldog captain.

"It was my first game of the year," he said.

?When an event is billed as an opportunity to roast Porky Vieira, guests tend to come out of the woodwork. The West Haven Twilight League's annual Hot Stove Luncheon, to be held this Saturday at West River Hall in West Haven, will honor the longtime University of New Haven baseball coach by allowing his friends and former players to share a sampling of stories about one of the area's all-time great characters.

Among those scheduled to speak are Paul "Topsy" DelGobbo, Sal DiNicola, Ron Diorio, Bob Turcio and former UConn guard Don Burns. Hamden's George Grande will serve as the master of ceremonies; radio host Rich Marazzi will be a guest speaker.

For tickets, call Vin DiLauro at 203-671-0325 or Len Maselli at 203-887-5470.

?The Yale women's hockey team's "White Out for Mandi" fundraiser will take place this Saturday at Ingalls Rink. Special guests Rick and Carol Schwartz, parents of Mandi Schwartz, are flying in from Saskatchewan to present Yale graduate Aleca Hughes with ECAC Hockey's Mandi Schwartz Award as the league's student-athlete of the year.

Schwartz, a center at Yale, passed away in April 2011 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Yale hopes to set an attendance record for women's hockey at Ingalls for the 4 p.m. game against Colgate, with all fans wearing white. Admission is free, but donations toward the Mandi Schwartz Foundation will be accepted at the door.

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